GoTWiC [AoH] S4R9 Return

After missing a few matches, Guts returned to his team. In the previous match, against very strong cavalry, he didn’t stand a chance. However, despite some minor communication issues and problems with a few players, they managed to win third place, which was quite an achievement for them, considering it was their first time playing together. None of his former teammates had improved much since the last match, and Guts was still the strongest in his group.

He believed they could achieve another good result, but unlike the previous match, this time they had to stay united, which shouldn’t be a problem, since these were old teammates with whom he had won before.

When they entered the arena, they had to defend House Baratheon, but Guts’s expression was far from reassuring.

The other houses had three or four warriors on his level, and the rest were even stronger. His group wasn’t nearly as powerful, some didn’t even have their strongest T5 units. Still, there was no time to give up. The match hadn’t even started yet, so why surrender now? The last match hadn’t gone perfectly either, yet they still managed to secure a high placement.

"Why not this time as well? "Guts thought. They could take third place again; it would be difficult, but they just had to listen to him and play as a team.

The focus would be on trading posts, since they bring in the most points. Guts knew that if they chose to build certain camps, they wouldn’t stand a chance of capturing the Towers or Catapults against the other, much stronger houses. However, even though he had ordered the construction of trading posts, some members went ahead and built infantry camps on their own. This caused a bit of a setback, but Guts managed to fix it, he destroyed the misplaced camps and began constructing trading posts instead.

If everything went according to plan, this mistake wouldn’t have much impact. The plan was to capture the three Maidens, which yielded the highest points. But first, the Stranger awaited.

When Guts opened the first altar, his main army was still stationed at the trading posts. By the time he recalled them, their Altar had already been reinforced, by Stark players. He knew he couldn’t win an offensive battle, so he ordered his team to keep focusing on strongholds until the other altars became available. It wasn’t a great start to the match, but there was still plenty of time to turn things around. Guts regretted returning to his old team a little, but it was too late now. Everything could still change if they played as a team.

They opened the remaining altars, and the situation became more complicated than they had expected. The two nearest houses began attacking them, most likely seeing them as the weakest link and wanting to seize the opportunity to capture key altars. The Lannisters were on their left, the Starks on their right. They were unable to secure practically any altars in the second opening, which left them in last place.

They had to fight to take some altars, but who? Guts was almost the only one who could do anything and capture an important Altar. One other teammate, GEERT, a spearman commanded by Sararer, could help. That was the only option they had. It was practically impossible for the other members to take an altar on their own unless an opponent failed to notice the attack.

It was similar on defense: Guts ordered them to deal with attacks using small numbers of troops, at least to prevent losing points and to ease the pressure on him and GEERT. Time was passing and they needed Altars as soon as possible. Guts instructed the others to launch light attacks on all neighboring altars. If nothing comes of the twenty attempts, at least we’ll snag one.

It was already clear that the outcome wouldn’t be the same as in the previous match, even fourth place now seemed practically out of reach.

And then, another problem arose. Their Clan was under attack. The Lannisters, thanks to their offensive camps, managed to occupy it and began reinforcing their position. The player who had been guarding the Clan didn’t notice in time and failed to warn Guts and the others. Guts sent a scout and saw that a cavalry player had taken control. They had to react quickly. This time, GEERT had to take the lead. Guts knew his infantry couldn’t do anything against them. Everything now depended on GEERT.

She struck first, a solo attack. She won the first hit, but it wasn’t enough to drive out all the reinforcements.

"Once more. Again. Don’t stop!" Guts urged her. She couldn’t stop now. The other teammates tried solo attacks as well, but none were successful. It was all in vain, their Clan fell into the hands of House Lannister.

The Lannisters immediately began capturing the Trading Post, which led to a further drop in their points.

Although we had some chances for a decent result up to this point, after this, we definitely didn’t. They kept defending the trading posts; some they managed to hold, others they lost. As soon as the bubble dropped, rallies were launched again, this time, our Clan was held by a strong spearman. Stronger than GEERT, but not stronger than Guts and his infantry.

"This is my chance," he thought.

He ordered GEERT to start a rally while he began an infantry one. They didn’t need to be perfectly synchronized, just close enough in timing. First came GEERT's strike, then his , about ten seconds apart. That was enough time for the enemy to send reinforcements, but they didn’t. They lost the first rally, but the second, the crucial one, Guts’s, they won. His infantry managed to defeat the Lannisters and reclaim the Clan.

Now, the goal was to hold it and earn at least some points, but even that wouldn’t be enough to change the overall outcome.

They had to come to terms with the fact that it was impossible to regain the lead, and therefore impossible to climb to fifth place. For a player like Guts, losing wasn’t something he was used to. But that, too, is part of the game. You can’t always be on the podium. Guts played as much as he could and again achieved a solid ranking in the general ranking, but that only speaks to the kind of opponents he played against and that the match was not at all easy.

When the match ended and they secured sixth place, the team gathered together.

Guts was the first to speak, saying once again that there would be more battles ahead, but they must never give up, and always fight to the very end. Today’s opponents had been much tougher, almost all of them with T5 units, but if you want to be the best, you have to face them all.